November itinerary for Oahu and The Big Island
 

After all your help with planning my trip from Las Vegas to Albuquerque last year, I am optimistic about your suggestions for our plans to visit Hawaii in November this year.
This will be my third trip to Hawaii but my partner’s first time. We are both in our early 70s. He has slight mobility due to respiratory problems so struggles with steep slopes and more than 6-7 steps. We are not into resort hotels or all inclusive unless they are the only option and prefer mid-range hotels or b&b inns. In Oahu we definitely want to visit the Pearl Harbour Historic Sites, so on this visit plan to stay in a Waikiki hotel, preferably walking distance to shops and restaurants. On The Big Island we will be hiring a car and plan to stay in 2 locations.

As we are travelling from the United Kingdom, our current thoughts on an itinerary are:
Fly from Newcastle airport to Los Angeles or San Diego and stay 3 nights.
Fly from mainland to Honolulu airport, Oahu and stay for 4 nights in Waikiki
Fly from Oahu to Kona airport, The Big Island. Pick up car rental and stay in Kailua Kona area for 5 nights.
Then drive to Hilo for 3 nights
Return flight from Hilo airport to Mainland for an overnight stopover
Return flight to Newcastle, UK via Paris
We would very much appreciate any hotel suggestions as well as ideas for sightseeing at the different locations.
Many thanks.

Do you need a pool at your hotel? If not, there a hotel in Waikiki that I like, the Aston Waikiki Circle. It is literally across the street from the Duke Kahanamoku statue. The partial ocean view rooms are nice (view from balcony). It isn't a huge hotel or one of the cheaper "back by the canal" hotels. Relatively easy to get to the lobby and elevator. Fortunately Oahu has Uber so you can get to the nearby sights such as Pearl Harbor easily, without taking the bus.

If your partner has respiratory issues be sure to read about "VOG" on the Big Island.

Many thanks for your suggestion about the Waikiki Circle. Whilst I like a pool, we will be doing more R&R on the Big Island, so not crucial on this occasion. I see you mentioned VOG which I will look at although we were in Taormina, Sicily last year when Etna erupted and he didn’t have any problems.

I would suggest to stay less nights in California to add a little more time to Hawaii. 4 or 5 nights is very short for each island.

Mid-priced, mid-sized hotels I can suggest for Waikiki are: Wayfinder, White Sands, Surfjack. These all have nice pools. Waikiki is a small central area (only 2 miles "long" and 1/2 mile "wide" with a huge park at either end) so any hotel in Waikiki will be near shops and restaurants.

w/ aloha...

I haven’t been but I would also add a couple of nights to Oahu.

You may have better options leaving for France from KOA instead of Hilo.

8 day, 1-way rentals on the Big Island run $800.

With the Paris angle, to put this on one ticket I’d look at SkyTeam (Virgin Atlantic/ Delta/Air France).

Suze, thank you for your feedback. The current itinerary is 4 nights on Oahu, 8 nights on the Big Island - 5 nights on the west coast and 3 nights around Hilo. I will look at adding another night to Waikiki The reason for spending 3 nights in LA or SD is in part to recover from possible jet lag and 2 days sightseeing.

tom-my - thanks for reminding me about the extra hire car cost on the 1 way car rentals. We will drive back to Kona.
The return flight will be via Paris or London as there are no transatlantic flights to/from Newcastle in NE England and I had a good quote with Virgin, but have just had an attractive price from BA/AA via London through my BA Executive Club membership.

Since I am also planning 8 days on the Big Island, Sixt has the best car offers for KOA, for January, but their office there closes 4 hours before the overnight flights to the West Coast. If one searches for a 6 pm return vs an 8 pm return the prices are a lot lower. Of course this may change.

Sure I understand jet lag! :-) Maybe because I grew up in Los Angeles, but I find Hawaii so much more interesting -haha.

I am also hoping to meet up with a friend in LA who I met on my last visit to the Big Island. I also loved San Diego when I was there several times in the late 80s so am tempted to re-visit.

My husband and I just returned from a trip to Hawaii that was a little over two weeks long. The time difference between east coast USA and Honolulu was 6 hrs, and it did take us a while to get over jet lag. But it was lovely to be experiencing it in Waikiki! We spent two nights on Oahu, a week on Maui and a week on the Big Island in the Waikoloa area. We reserved our entry to Pearl Harbor ahead of time and were able to visit in the morning. My husband did the driving on our trip but I spoke with several people who enjoyed excellent tours on all 3 islands.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Oh sure, if you have people to vist or places you specifically want to see in California, I'm not against it :-) I just thought you meant those extra days in order to get over jet-lag and 3 days seemed a bit long for only that reason and I'd rather be in Hawaii.

I think your 4 nights on Oahu is just fine, and wouldn't add another night there. If you wanted to add more nights, that would be on the Big Island.

For Oahu, two days to see inner city/Honolulu/Waikiki including Pearl Harbor, another day for a driving tour out to the Windward Coast and North Shore. Since you won't be doing long hikes, that should be fine.

There are people who go to Hawaii and "do nothing" but I sure wouldn't fly all that way to just sit by a pool or on a balcony. You can do that in Los Angeles or San Diego, haha.

I do not think the Kona area is very nice anymore, you might look for a rental up near Mauna Lani/Puako/Waikoloa for most of your time instead.
One thing to consider is that KOA is not near anything, but ITO is close to the town so if for some reason the airport has problems (as it has several times at KOA) you will not be stranded.